No Offence to Rick the Probate Guy - Posted by Jimmy the Probate Lawyer
Posted by Jimmy the Probate Lawyer on September 27, 2009 at 07:52:58:
I’m Jimmy the Probate Lawyer (well…us uppity lawyer types like to use the term trust& estate counsel or estate plannig lawyer-----kind of like the proctologists now calling themselves gastroenterologists)…of course, the procto’s have better jokes----“they save the world, one a$$hole at a time”
here’s the deal.the fact that the POA was not notarized is absolutely irrelevant now. the legal effectiveness of POA’s dies with the principal of the POA (e.g., the guy who signed the power). whether the un-notarized POA was valid prior to death is a state-by-state question. In CA and TX, where I practice, it would have been invalid.
walk away? no.
keep digging. find out PRECISELY,and I mean PRECISELY who owns the property. The guy acting like he’s in control may have very little to offer you.
Have a friendly title person run a PTR and lien search. that will give you plenty of useful info. that may cause you to walk away.
watch the newspaper and see if an executor (usually now known as Personal Representative) is appointed. That person, and the atty representing him or her, are people you definitely want to know.
If it happens that you are dealing wth the only child of the decedent, and there are no other people in The picture, consider yourself lucky. There may be a will. You’ll know when the petition to open probate is filed. If there’s a will, go down to the courthouse, pay a few dollars for a copy and see what it says. if there is no will, we could have a slam dunk or a really fuc#ed-up mess. It all depends on what relatives are still above ground, or left kids/g-kids above ground. Every state has its own intestacy rules (the ones that apply to no-will cases), and they all differ. I’ve seen huge differences between CA and GA law as it related to living ex-spouses. Ended up costing the ex-wife a few hundred acres of prime peanut farm land…CA seems to have an affinity to exex, whie Georgia says pi$$ in them.
The only person who can legally transfer the property to you is the PR and you aint got one yet. But you can make a deal with the living son that says you will pay him x if you end up acquiring the property. Do not hand money over to this guy without a contract. and I mean a good one written by one of us uppity T & E attys. Tehy will represet YOU and YOUR interests, and keep you from geting ripped off, short-changed. By short-changedm, I mean, you fork over 10K to this grey thinking you ae bying the whole enchilada, when all he owns is halft he enchilada. all he can sell you is what he owns (or will own)
OK RTPG----fill in the cracks for me